22 Jun 2021  |   05:32am IST

Connectivity issues come to ‘haunt’again

Connectivity  issues come   to ‘haunt’again


Team Herald  


PERNEM/SANGUEM: For several students, especially those from the rural areas of Pernem taluka it was a “poor” start to their new academic year, which commenced via an online mode on Monday as they faced internet connectivity issues. 

Students from Mopa, Torxem, Patradevi, Tamboxem, Chandel, Hasapur, Parsem, Devsu, etc, had to literally move out of their houses and search for spots with better mobile connectivity since only a few houses have WiFi facility.

In the absence of mobile towers, most people in these areas cannot even make or attend phone calls.

The financial crunch on account of the pandemic among the poor families has also added to the problem as many students are forced to use their parents’ mobile handset to attend online classes.

"There is no network connectivity in our area and answering even a phone call is difficult. Our kids are forced to walk a distance of 500 metres to avail network connectivity. Today, there was no much rain and they managed to attend classes for a while", complained a parent from Mopa.

Several students have called upon the government to provide WiFi facility in their villages as constant use of mobile data for online classes is not possible due to poor network.

Meanwhile, in Sanguem taluka, it appears that network connectivity has not improved in the villages of Rivona, Bhati and Neturlim, which are totally dependent on the lone service provider.

“Online classes in schools commenced on Monday, the students expected some improvement in the connectivity but to no avail. Several complaints made by the villagers and students continue to gather dust at the service provider’s office,” complained Amit Naik, a local.

“During the previous academic year, students from Bhati and Neturlim were forced to move out of their houses to search for hot spots in other villages to avail net connectivity. This year the situation will be the same,” said Bhati sarpanch Uday Naik.

Naik informed that students from Dongor ward of Bhati have to walk couple of kilometres to avail net connectivity.

Similar is story of students residing in the hilly areas of Salgini and Verlem, said Manoday Phadte, another resident.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar